Venezuelan Nights

Newsletter #1

written December 3rd, 2007

by Alyse Haldeman

“BOOM!” I jerked up in my bed. It was the middle of the night, and I was completely disoriented and confused. “What was going on?” I thought to myself. Then I realized, it was the early morning of December 3rd after Election Day, results must be in. My host mom had said, if the government wins, there will be fireworks. That must have was what the boom. I crept out of my bed and slowly rolled the blind up to look outside. Fireworks were going off, colors bouncing off the mountains, or at least I assumed so. I could not see them as the mountains surrounding Charallve blocked any sights of Caracas. I could only hear the booms of fireworks, a neighbor firing off rounds in his gun in celebration, another neighbor hitting silverware against a metal pot, and yet another hitting a metal pole for another metallic clang. To celebrate here, you make as much noise as possible. Last night sounded a little like this, “BOOM, clang, clang…clang, pa pa pa pa pop, ting, ting, ting ting ta, clang…BOOM!” I assumed the government won. I turned on the television; to my surprise, there was the big man himself. Chavez was in a news conference, he did not look upset; my assumptions seemed correct. I looked at the clock, it was 1:30 in the morning, the results were supposed to be in by 10 p.m. last night. I laid in bed, wondering what the future of Venezuela would be. A little while later, I heard more fireworks, this time accompanied by distant cheering and clapping. I eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.
By mid morning,I could not sleep any longer. Besides sleeping in, the kitten named, “Little crocodile” kept jumping up onto my bed and biting me. I got up did my usual morning routine and then started my devotions. By this time, my teammate Dani had also gotten up. I was lying on my bed, doing my devotions as Dani went to start her morning routine. I heard she and our host mom talking and then Dani came back in to our room and announced, “Chavez lost.” I could not believe my ears. All I had heard was how Chavez would win and how some Venezuelans voted for trash, meaning their vote would probably end up in the trash. Everyone, including me, assumed he would win. But he hadn’t. It was a complete and total surprise, kind of like when a lizard landed on Brett, Cassie and Jeremy’s front step, running from a hungry dog. A surprise that takes your breath away with its suddenness yet leaves a smile of your face.
The Venezuela team has spent the last couple days just getting to know people from our church. Although I don’t think they are quite sure what to do with us yet, hence hours and hours of free time everyday, they seem very excited to have us here. They are extremely patient with our attempts at Spanish and often laugh at me, when in the middle of a conversation; I call for Dani to translate. My host sisters also tease me about my Spanish that mostly consists of “no entiendo” or “no se” which means I don’t understand and I don’t know, respectively. Brett, Cassie and Jeremy live in a small apartment above the church, Kirsten, Dani and I live with host families. Kirsten lives very close to the church, with three sisters and Dani and I live with the same host family about two blocks from the church. Our sisters left with their father to go to the beach the day after we arrived and are returning today. It is a lot different with out them. For one, the parrots keep screeching for Joanna, early in the morning and there is no Dianna to quiet them for us. Venezuela is not quite what I expected but I love looking at the mountains and the many different color combinations. I think we are all quite enjoying ourselves.